On Sunday, September 18, the political party “ȘOR” organized a protest against the government. People, mostly elderly, were brought to the protest from several districts of the country. While some protesters sat comfortably under the fence of the Presidency and refused to talk to the ZdG team, others vociferously protested against America, the European Union, the President and the government. Most of them voiced their support for Ilan Shor, the fugitive MP sentenced in 2017 to seven years and six months in prison for fraud and money laundering. They, too, said they would protest non-stop even from tents, while Șor lives in a luxury villa in Israel.

“We are not commenting on the protest. In Moldova, every citizen has the right to free expression,” is the reaction of the Moldovan presidency, given to Ziarul de Gardă, regarding the demonstration organized by the political party “ȘOR”, in which people brought in an organized way from the country’s districts participated.

According to the IGP, about 6,500 people took part in the demonstration – a number ten times lower than that announced by the president of Orhei district, Dinu Turcanu, a member of the “ȘOR” party, who said that “more than 50,000 people took part”. Members of the political party said they would protest non-stop. In this regard, the establishment of the “City of Change” has been announced, and supporters of the “ȘOR” party have begun to set up tents in front of the Parliament, near the Presidency of the Republic of Moldova. Ilan Shor, the fugitive MP sentenced in 2017 to seven years and six months in prison for fraud and money laundering, intervened via Skype during the protest at the Presidency.

“Today, we have to show all the strength of will and character to be able to leave the ‘City of Change’ here. We will get what we promised (…). I will fight to the end (…). We are going to start setting up tents (…)”, said the fugitive MP.

In July 2022, anti-corruption prosecutors together with officers of the National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA) conducted several raids in the criminal case on illegal financing of the “ȘOR” political party. At the time, the CNA announced that in the first half of this year, the “ȘOR” political party had made payments amounting to 600,000 euros, while reported expenses were just over 228,000 lei.

According to the evidence on file, it was found that the party had knowingly accepted money of dubious origin from a “criminal group”, which was used for party purposes, such as fees for artists, salaries for members and the organisation of protests. According to the NAC, the money of the “criminal group” arrived in Moldova in the form of transfers and conversions, including in cryptocurrency, and various financing channels such as Dubai, Vienna and Monaco were used to disguise the origin of the funds.

Recently, “CU SENS” journalists identified the luxury villa in Israel where fugitive MP and party leader Ilan Shor has been living for the past three years.

In recent months, the “CU SENS” team has analysed hundreds of photos and videos posted on social media by the family of criminal MP Ilan Shor, also the leader of the “Shor” party. Most of the images are taken in such a way as not to betray the location of the meeting, kept in great secrecy. However, journalists have captured a few details which, put together, have helped identify the luxury villa in Israel where the politician has found refuge for the past three years.